Vision 2050

A move toward more sustainable energy is desirable
Before pouring billions
into creating a new
generation of nuclear
power stations, we need to
ask whether that money
would be better invested in
other, sustainable energy
technologies.
The cost overruns and
accidents in countries
with extensive experience
in nuclear power should
highlight the risk exposure
of countries with little
nuclear energy experience
and low existing capacity to
such risks.
History has shown that nuclear accidents do happen. The most
famous are Three Mile Island (Unit 2 reactor, near Middletown,
Pa., partially melted down in 1979), due to a combination of
personnel error, design deficiencies, and component failures
(United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2014a);
Chernobyl, Ukraine in 1986 (a surge of power during a reactor
systems test destroyed Unit 4 of the nuclear power station) (United
States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2014b); and Fukushima
in 2011 where a tsunami hit the site’s reactors (United States
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2014c); these accidents, with the
exception of Three Mile Island, resulted in very significant health
and environmental impacts.
Such disasters also cause huge economic impacts that have to
be met by government, i.e. the tax payers, since the responsible
utilities, whether government owned or not, are unable to cover the
expenses.
When all costs are taken into account, including decommissioning,
nuclear power becomes an extremely expensive option, as is being
illustrated by the current British project at Hinkley Point 5 . Nuclear
power plants under construction (European Pressurised Reactors)
in France and Finland have seen their projected costs
soaring and deadlines long since overrun. Construction began
at Olkiluoto 3 in 2005, in Finland, and is not expected to be
completed before 2018, nine years late. The estimated cost has
risen from 3.6 billion USD to 9.5 billion USD. The company in
charge of the project, Areva has already made provision for a 3.0
billion USD writedown on the project, with further losses expected;
FTVO and Areva/Siemens are locked in a 10 billion USD legal
battle over the cost overruns (Ecologist, 2015; New York Times,
2015); in Flamanville, France, the reactor was ordered in 2006 for
a price of ~3.7 billion USD and was expected to start generating
electricity in 2012; completion is now scheduled for 2018 and costs
are assessed at 11.85 billion USD (Ecologist, 2015;
Reuters, 2015a).
Before pouring billions into creating a new generation of nuclear
power stations, we need to ask whether that money would be better
invested in other, sustainable energy technologies. The cost overruns
and accidents in countries with extensive experience in nuclear
power should highlight the risk exposure of countries with little
nuclear energy experience and low existing capacity to such risks.
14
5 The Government agreed to pay EDF a guaranteed a price of £92.50 per MWh over a 35-year period.
The strike price is fully indexed to inflation through the Consumer Price Index. This is more expensive than
several solar and wind projects already today.